Of course, while this rating is a sign of overall good news for Challenger fans, the car, as TCC argues, has yet to be tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. It'll be interesting to see if these NHTSA ratings translate to an IIHS Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick Plus.

In its assessment of the new Challenger, NHTSA notes the availability of Forward Collision Warning (FCW), which features forward-facing sensors programmed to detect the potential for certain types of frontal collisions. If detected, the driver is alerted with visual and audible warnings.

The 2015 Dodge Challenger is the only car in its segment with such capability.

FCW is among more than 70 available safety and security features on the 2015 Dodge Challenger. Others include Blind-Spot Monitoring and Rear Cross-Path Detection, which was pioneered by FCA US LLC.

Among the individual crash-tests in which the Challenger scored five stars were front- and side-impacts.

"The 2015 Challenger checks all the boxes," Kunselman says. "It affords premium safety and security in a stylish package that delivers a sporty driving experience."

And it does so for $26,995, excluding tax, destination and title.

Building on the 2014-model's legacy of honors that include Edmunds.com's Best Retained Value Award and winner three years' running J.D. Power's APEAL Award for overall ownership enjoyment, the 2015 Dodge Challenger ups its game with:
New 1971-inspired exterior and interior design features
An unmatched array of personalization options, including a wide range of colors, stripes and wheels to create the perfect combination of fun, nostalgia and power
Segment-first and segment-exclusive TorqueFlite eight-speed automatic transmission, which delivers world-class precision and up to an 11 percent improvement in fuel economy, compared with the outgoing gearbox
Significant new technology upgrades such as the all-new Uconnect Access system with standard touchscreen, standard new 7-inch multi-view TFT gauge cluster, new performance electronic shifter, Keyless Enter 'n Go with push-button start.

Last month, the Challenger recorded its best-ever November sales total with 4,157 deliveries. That's a 52-percent jump compared with the same month in 2013.

About Dodge Brand
The Dodge brand is tearing into its centennial year as America's mainstream performance brand, celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2014. With the purification of the brand and consolidation with SRT, Dodge is getting back to its performance roots with every single model it offers. The consolidated Dodge and SRT brands will offer a complete lineup of performance vehicles that stand out within their own segments. Dodge will be the "mainstream performance" brand. SRT will be positioned as the "ultimate performance" halo of the Dodge brand, together creating a complete and balanced performance brand with one vision and one voice.

From muscle cars to compact cars, minivans, crossovers and full-size SUVs, the Dodge brand's full lineup of 2015 models deliver best-in-class horsepower, class-exclusive technology, unmatched capability and a slew of cool features, such as LED headlamps, Dodge signature racetrack tail lamps, dual exhaust, 8.4-inch touchscreen infotainment centers and 7-inch thin-film transistor (TFT) customizable gauge clusters, to name a few. For the 2015 model year, customers will be able to drive the new 2015 Dodge Charger and Challenger, as well as the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and Charger SRT Hellcat. The Dodge brand lineup also includes the 2015 Dodge Dart, Durango, Grand Caravan and Journey, including the new Crossroad model, and Dodge Viper.

Legal

We get it. Ads are annoying. Ads are how we keep the garage doors open and the lights on here at Autoblog - and keep our stories free for you and for everyone. And free is good, right? If you'd be so kind as to whitelist our site, we promise to keep bringing you great content. Thanks for that. And thanks for reading Autoblog.

Here's how to disable adblocking on our site.

Click on the icon for your Adblocker in your browser. A drop down menu will appear.

Select the option to run ads for autoblog.com, by clicking either "turn off for this site", "don't run on pages on this domain", "whitelist this site" or similar. The exact text will differ depending on the actual application you have running.